Who Do You Think You Are? (Jamal Edition)
by Marcel Marceau II
Summary: It turns out that both Andre and Hakeem doesn't know a lot about their brother Jamal, other than his musical talents. So they set out to on an epic adventure to discover the actual events that occurred in Jamal's life in the past 18 years, and how he overcame, obsticles, and hardships through resilience. And lastly how Jamal becomes the man he truly is today.
1. Chapter 1

It all starts where Hakeem meets Andre at Starbucks to talk about Jamal's birthday which is in a couple of weeks. They were both were thinking about it for sometime but they still don't know what to give him. They were all busy doing their own thing and now that they have some time off, they figured that they can at least focus on Jamal for the time being.

"Maybe we should just give him five grand, and call it a day," said Andre, as he sips his Frappuccino and shrugs.

"Nah man," said Hakeem. "It has to be something meaningful, you know what I'm saying."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Andre. "I understand giving him certain gifts and everything, but I draw the line when it comes to all of that androgynous stuff."

"We promised mom that we are going more supportive towards him, remember," said Hakeem. "You know how sensitive he can be."

"Oh don't remind me," said Andre. "The boy bing watches Gone With The Wind and the Notebook every Christmas."

"Yeah but get this, bro," Hakeem says. If things go right he doesn't have to go crawling back to her."

"To who?" asked Andre.

"To mom," said Hakeem, trying not to sound dejected.

Andre puts his drink down and shakes his head. Hakeem scowls at him.

"What?!" said Hakeem.

"You're still obsessed with getting mom's attention?" asked Andre.

"No!" snapped Hakeem. "I don't mean it like that, I'm...just helping our brother out, that's all.

"Just admit it," said Andre. "You love you some Cookie Lyon. That motherly love."

"You're stupid," said Hakeem throwing a napkin at Andre. "But, you do kind of have a point, you know."

"Yeah of course I do," said Andre, confidently.

"Yeah," agreed Hakeem. "I mean I wish she would sometimes would ask me if I want to go out to dinner, or go shopping, or go to the movies."

"Yeah, man," said Andre. "We missed out for a lot of years, and yet Jamal still maintain a very good relationship with her."

"But I feel like there was a rift that's between us," said Hakeem. "Both of us actually."

"True," said Andre, in thought. "But Jamal's relationship with dad was a little bit more strained than ours."

"I know," agreed Hakeem. "Especially when we were kids. Man, it's a miracle that Jamal survived all of that."

"Yeah, it's very interesting," said Andre.

"I mean there were some good parts that happened in his life too, right?" asked Hakeem. He's pursuing his dream as a recording artist, I mean C'mon. He even went to Berkeley, the school of music and graduated with a degree and won lots of awards-.

"Yeah, about that," Andre cuts him off. "Ah...I think that there are some things about our brother that we all overlooked."

"What do you mean?" asked Hakeem.

Andre then picks up something from under the table which is a large yellow envelope that said Jamal's Berkeley Degrees on. He gives it to Hakeem who looks at him suspiciously.

"Take a look inside," said Andre.

"Wait, how did you even have access to his stuff?" asked Hakeem, curiously.

"Just open the envelope!" said Andre, excited.

Hakeem sighs and opens up the envelope and pulls out what he thought was Jamal's certificates but it was nowhere to be found.

It was pictures of Jamal and some guy that none of them were familiar with. It looks like the two of them were in a romantic relationship with each other. The rest of the papers that were in the envelope is love letters that Jamal has been writing to the guy but probably never send them. Hakeem looks at Andre like he has three heads.

"I got it from the storage place downtown," said Andre.

"What the hell is this?" asked Hakeem. "And who the hell is Gilroy? I've never seen that dude in my life!"

"Neither have I," said Andre. "He could've been Jamal's old flame, that's in and out of the picture."

"That's insane, man," said Hakeem. "So, what happened to his certificate and stuff, did he move it some place else or something?"

"Not exactly, bro," said Andre. "Because he never went."

"What?" said Hakeem. "What do you mean he never went?

"I don't think he went to college at all," said Andre. "Plus I did some digging in the Berkeley school records and his name was nowhere to be found no proof that he even graduated."

"I don't understand," said Hakeem. "He's usually gone for a good amount of time, and he would always come back for spring and summer breaks and holidays."

"He may have been doing that just cover his tracks," said Andre. "So that no one gets suspicious about him."

"Damn Jamal," said Hakeem.

"He was probably spending that time going on his adventures with his little boy toy," said Andre. "Or whatever the hell you call those little queens."

Hakeem examines the pictures again, still looking speechless.

"He probably knew that we were all busy doing our own stuff that he figured; hey, why not sneak around," said Andre.

"He was kind of in the closet around that time," agreed Hakeem. "But...Now I'm wondering...If he kept this from us for some time, what other secrets has he been keeping from us?"

"Who knows," said Andre. "Maybe he has like a big mansion somewhere in like Beverly Hills that we all don't know about."

"Yeah, with all those bad ass cars," added Hakeem. "And maybe he's also living off of the companies money, and maybe that's why the stalk is like up and down."

"Nah, I don't think that he would have the balls to do that," said Andre. "Besides I can't see him be that type of person."

"Yeah, me either," said Hakeem.

They sat in silence for a moment, then a big grin came across Andre's face. Hakeem rolls his eyes.

"Alright, what is it now," asked Hakeem.

"You know, he's going to be out of town for a few days," said Andre. "Visiting some friends."

"And?" Hakeem said nonchalantly.

"And, he's not home, and he's not going to be home for a couple of days," said Andre. "And he did put you in charge of taking care of his stuff while he was away…"

Hakeem hesitated for a second and then smiles back at Andre micheviously.

"I do have a key to his crib," said Hakeem, with a grin. "I mean it wouldn't hurt to just stop by and see if his stuff is alright, although he specifically told us not to be there when he's not home."

"True," said Andre. "All he said for you to do is to drop off his mail and water his plants, and just leave. But why wouldn't he want us there when he's not home?"

"It's not like He's hiding something else from us," said Hakeem. "Is he?"

"There's only one way to find out," said Andre, excited.

"Wait! You really want to do this?" asked Hakeem.

"Hell yeah, man," said Andre. "You know the boy is introverted in some way, and it would be very interesting to know what he is really about you know."

"It's kind of like invading his personal space," said Hakeem. "But what the hell. I'm down for an adventure. What's the harm in that."

"Nothing really," said Andre. "We're just two Lyon brother who has sometime on their hands, so we decide to mind our brothers business."

"Alright," said Hakeem. "Let's do this man!"

"Yeah bro, let's," said Andre, as they gather their things. "So, where are you parked."

"Where am I parked?" asked Hakeem, I didn't bring my car. Did you?"

"Nope," said Andre.

They stood awkwardly.

"Wanna share an Uber," asked Andre.

"Nah, I think the subways more effective route," said Hakeem.

They both agree with a shrug and proceeded out of the Starbucks.


	2. Chapter 2

HAKEEM'S POV:

So we were shocked to find out that Jamal did not go to Berkeley college at all. So we are off to go to Jamal's apartment to find out some more clues of what really happened in that time period while he was away from home. I mean we know that there's boundaries in going into my brother's personal life but I'm always looking forward to a thrilling adventure.

Thirty minutes later both Andre and Hakeem reaches Jamal's apartment. Hakeem stops by Jamal's mailbox to pick up his mail.

"Perfect timing, bro," said Hakeem. "I got four pieces of mail."

"A perfect excuse to drop by," said Andre, with a grin.

"And now it's the moment of truth," said Hakeem, as he takes out the keys to open the door. "There's no turning back now."

"I wasn't planning on it," said Andre.

Hakeem opens the door and they step right in. The luxurious one bedroom apartment still looks the same as it has done before, except this time it was more neater than before. He has a furnished kitchen which is beautifully decorated by a local designer, a living room with a flat screen T.V. and comfortable furniture, with shelves filled with CD'S and DVD's and the long strip of hallway leads to his master bedroom.

"Man, I can literally eat off of this floor," said Andre. "Are we sure that we are in the right house?"

"There a male manikin over by the closet wearing a pink feather boa and heels," said Hakeem as he pointed. "We're definitely in the right apartment."

"I see, now," said Andre as he frowns at the manikin. "Hey, wait a damn minute...what the hell is that?"

Andre goes over to take a closer look at the manikin shoes. Hakeem follows him.

"I told you, they are call heels," said Hakeem, like he was answering a trick question. "He's probably working on some damn outfit for New York Pride."

"I know that!" said Andre. "These are Rhonda's high heels!"

"What?" asked Hakeem.

"Remember back at the dinner party at our house last month," said Andre. "Jamal was the last person to leave, and he was the only person that was upstairs during the party. He claimed that he had bad diarrhea, but he had to raid our closet to find something to wear."

"But are you one hundred percent that's her shoes?" asked Hakeem.

"Of course that her damn shoes," snapped Andre. "I know my wife's style when it comes to accessories. She drove me crazy for days over it."

"We can't just take them," said Hakeem. "That would mean that he would know that we was here messing with his stuff."

"I mean if he asks us, we could say that Lucious took them, and burned them someplace...Because he couldn't fathom seeing him again in heels."

"Nah, that's too risky," said Hakeem. "Just let it go man. If he wants to be a queen for two days out of the year then let him do it. Besides, he promised me that he's gonna hook me with some Bisexual chicks at the event."

"Man, you are too much," said Andre. "Oh, what the hell. God would judge Y'all anyway."

"Yeah, whatever," said Hakeem, looking around the place. "Now, if I were to keep something of my ex, where would it be?"

"I'll check the kitchen," said Andre, eagerly.

"I'll start in the living room," said Hakeem, as he heads to the draws and the T.V. stand.

They look everywhere for about fifteen minutes. After about fifteen minutes, Hakeem looks in the bathroom, which he uses after he looks through everything.

"Ah dammit, are you doing a number two in there?" asked Andre. "Cause like the only place that we can't mess up."

"No," said Hakeem, as he suddenly comes out. "He's running low on cleaning supplies, and he doesn't have any air freshener."

"Nothing in there huh?" asked Andre, weary.

"Nope," said Hakeem. "Nothing."

"Well," said Andre, as he looks toward the bedroom. "There's only one room that we didn't check."

"Let's do it bro," said Hakeem.

They walk slowly into the bedroom looking all around. It was a typical medium sized master bedroom filled with art and musical equipment. And pictures of male celebrities from the 90's and the 2000's. He has a shelf filled with CD'S which was mostly Prince albums. Hakeem takes a seat on Jamal's bed as Andre looks around some more.

"So, this is where he does in his spare time," said Andre.

"Totally," said Hakeem. "Maybe, there's something in these draws.

But when he opens the draws, he is amazed to find lots of sex toys. Hakeem's mouth drops as he looks back at Andre.

"What is it?" asked Andre, as he goes over. "Is there like a gun collection that we don't know about?"

Hakeem shows him the sex toys…

"Woa!" said Andre. "That's even worse!"

"Man, I can't believe he owns all of this stuff," said Hakeem. "Vibrators, dildos, butt plugs."

"Butt plugs?" asked Andre, in disbelief.

"Yep," said Hakeem. "It's the real stuff, bro."

"I think my eyes are about to burn out of my socket," said Andre.

"No, it's not like that," said Hakeem. "The majority of women use sex toys all the time...But I never seen anyone carry this much in their possession."

"He must've been pretty lonely for the past couple of months," scoffed Andre.

"Yeah, apparently," said Hakeem, with a chuckle.

Something on Jamal's desk suddenly catches Andre's attention. It is a light turquoise blue paper with some writing on it.

"Hello," said Andre, as he picks up the paper. "What do we have here?"

"What does it say?" asked Hakeem, as he closes the draws.

"It's says," Andre paused. "This is dedicated to the man that was more of a father to me than any other man...Lance Middleton, he was planning on writing him a song."

"Lance Middleton?" asked Hakeem. "Who the heck is that."

"You was a baby when we last seen him," said Andre. "He was a very good friend of Lucious. But Jamal was really close to him."

"What happened to him?" asked Hakeem.

"Lucious said that he was murdered years ago," said Andre. "That someone shot him over money." "But the last time we saw him, him and Lucious had a bad falling out with each other. I don't know what it was said, but from the look of it, it looked really bad. They were even at each other's throat."

"Wow," said Hakeem. "Amazed."

"Long story short, we were not so see him ever again," said Andre. "Of course Jamal took it hard, and got on Lucious' nerves about it, until Lucious threatened him with a whoopin."

"He's really a piece of work," said Hakeem.

"But I think there's a website that explains people's death certificates and stuff," said Andre.

A few minutes later, Hakeem logs into Jamal's computer and researches Lance name in the research system. Andre then comes out of Jamal room and carefully shuts the door behind him.

"Well, I doubled checked everything," said Andre. "And I didn't see anything that links to that Gilroy guy."

"Ah, well," said Hakeem. "At least we got something on Lance."

They went on the website and try to find a death certificate of Lance, but they couldn't find his name anyway.

"Hmm," said Andre. "That's sort of strange, his name would've easily popped up. Maybe he misspelled it while he was writing it down."

"What should we do?" asked Hakeem.

"I got another site," said Andre, as Hakeem moves over so he can have a seat.

Andre types in another site and puts Lance's name in the search. The results came right away and Andre and Hakeem was suddenly shocked.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Andre, in disbelief.

"Are you sure this is it?" asked Hakeem.

"Yeah, one hundred percent," said Andre. "Lance Middleton is alive."

"Why did Lucious said he was dead though?" asked Hakeem.

"I'm not sure now," said Andre. "But knowing him, he can lie about anything to cover up his ass."

"True," said Hakeem.

"He has to have a Facebook page," said Andre, putting in the Facebook address.

Lance's name instantly pops up, and Andre points out that he looks the same, but he's a little bit older. Hakeem is amazed.

"Are you sure that we ain't related to him?" asked Hakeem.

"Beats me," said Andre. "Him and Lucious were like brothers to each other, you couldn't tell the difference with them."

"Wow," said Hakeem.

"Now we understand clearly what Lucious was saying," said Andre. "Lance wasn't literally dead, he was just dead to him because of that bad fall out."

"Yeah," said Hakeem.

"But, like you said," said Andre. "We don't know why Lucious said he was dead, and second what was the fall out actually about."

"How do we find out?" asked Hakeem. "We just can't go and confront Lucious about it, he'll act all suspicious."

"Yeah," said Andre. "We might not be able to go to Lucious, but we can definitely go to Lance himself to find out what happened."

"Sounds good to me," said Hakeem. "And maybe he can tell us a little bit more on his relationship with Jamal growing up."

"Wow," said Andre, as he keeps looking on his page. "He still lives in Philly after all these years."

"Really?" asked Hakeem

"Yep," said Andre. "And it looks like he stays in the same house."

"Looks dope," said Hakeem with a smile.

"I don't know about you bro, but I'm down for a road trip," said Andre.

"Hell yeah, man," said Hakeem. "You know I'm down for anything that involves an adventure."

"It's official," said Andre. "We're going back home."


	3. Chapter 3

**ANDRE'S POV**

" _So, we just found out that dad's friend Lance Middleton is in fact alive and is doing quite well. Man, Jamal is in for a big surprise. But what we don't know is why did my father lie and told us that he was murdered, and what was the fall out really about. So, now it is Saturday, and Hakeem and I made arrangements and we are now on our way to Philly to go have lunch with Lance, and hopefully he would tell his side of the story."_

It is eleven 'o'clock when they arrive at Lance's condo and Andre was so excited when lots of memories started to flood back to him.

"So this is the crib that he's staying in, huh?" Hakeem rhetorically asked.

"Yep," said Andre. "I can tell that he's been remodeling. All of the stuff out here that you see is sort of new or a few years old."

"Wow," said Hakeem.

They walk up the steps and ring the doorbell.

Andre and Hakeem waited anxiously for a minute before both Lance and lady that he was with appeared at the door.

When Lance sees both of them, he grew amazed and very excited. The lady smiles as the Lance goes out and embraces them.

"Well, I be damned," said Lance, as he takes a good look at both Andre and Hakeem. "I thought I would never see y'all again."

"Yeah, Lucious tried to make that very clear," said Andre. "But somehow, we managed to prove him wrong."

"Well, I'm glad y'all did," said Lance, happily. "Look at y'all man, y'all all grown up."

"We sure are," said Andre.

"And you," said Lance, as he bumps fist with Hakeem. "You were a toddler when I seen you last."

"That was what I was told," said Hakeem.

"And now look at you," said Lance. "Mr. Empire Royalty."

"You know it man," said Hakeem happily. "It's a pleasure to get back in touch with you."

Lance agrees as he introduces the woman he is with.

"And this beautiful soulful women is my wife Sasha," said Lance.

"Nice to meet you both said Sasha, with a friendly smile.

"Oh, so you're married now, huh?" said Andre. "Maybe our wives should get together and hang out sometime."

"Okay," said Lance, with a laugh. "I see you gotta taste of the married life."

"I do," said Andre. "Wouldn't trade it for the world."

"That's good to hear bro," said Lance. "That's good to hear."

"We was hoping to get in contact with you right away," said Andre. "Because we want to talk to you about something that has been affecting all of us all these years. It involved our father the most."

"Ha, yeah what else is new," scoffed Lance. "Well, come on in, I was just in the kitchen making some lunch and stuff. Come join me."

As they all step into the house, Lance gives them a brief tour of the house, and how some things have changed over the years. Andre points out a lot of stuff that was familiar and Hakeem was really intrigued. He even showed them some old collectives from the basement. Afterwards the got settled in the living room.

"How's life for your mama, now she's out of prison?" asked Lance, curiously.

"Honestly," said Andre. "It's as if she hadn't left us all those years ago."

"She's one tough lady, I tell you that," said Lance, as he bites into his sandwich.

"When she first got out, we immediately butted heads," said Hakeem. "I do admit I was being stubborn because she was out of my life for so long you know."

"Well, she just made bad decisions in her early years, that's all," said Lance. "It looks like she's making up for lost times isn't she?"

"I guess," said Hakeem. "I mean now things are getting a little bit better between us. I just feel that she still loves Jamal more than me."

"You know that's not true," said Lance. "She loves all of y'all equally, it's probably possible that she has different approaches while interacting with you."

"Yeah," said Andre. "I haven't had a close with mom either, but I turned out okay."

"Yeah, I know that you have a good head on your shoulders," said Lance.

Andre takes a sip of his water, and turns back to Lance.

"Okay, what we about to say to you might piss you off," said Andre. "It about dad."

"Oh Lord," said Lance wearily. "What did he do now?"

"Many years ago, we asked him about you," said Andre. "We were wondering how you was doing and whether you were okay…"

"Yeah," said Lance.

"Lucious told us that you were dead," said Hakeem.

"What?!" asked Lance, in disbelief.

"He told us that, somebody murdered you over some money," said Andre, studying Lance's reaction.

"That evil ass son of a bitch," said Lance. "Man I'm sorry y'all but-."

"You what," Hakeem said. "That was one of the best words that I had ever heard so far today."

"Amen," said Andre.

"Y'all are the best men," said Lance. "It's no wonder y'all kids are my favorite."

"So, what exactly happened," said Andre, curiously. "Last time we was here, you two had a falling out, and we never saw you again after that."

Lance hesitates before speaking again.

"It was a very big misunderstanding, man," said Lance. "But I'm gonna tell you this...We were very close when we were kids, so close that we were like brothers. Then we grew up and we determine that wherever we were in our lives we would always depend on each other. So we succeeded on that promise until that day y'all left."

Both Andre and Hakeem watches Lance, like they were little kids at a campfire.

"I had a secret that I didn't people to know about," said Lance. "Not even my close family and friends. But I thought that if I confided in Lucious that everything would be okay. But I found out that I was wrong."

"Yeah, as you can see he knew that he wasn't all that trustworthy as well," said Hakeem.

"Yeah, I figured that out the hard way," said Lance. "But I told him the truth...That I was HIV positive."

Andre and Hakeem looked like they have seen a ghost.

"What?" said Andre, in disbelief.

"Yep, that's the truth," said Lance.

"Oh man," said Hakeem, suddenly feeling sorry for him. "You must've been devastated.

"Hell yeah, I was devastated," said Lance. "For a moment I kept thinking over and over that I was gonna die."

"But...you're still here," said Andre, a bit amazed. "Living on this earth."

"I am," said Lance. "And I thank God everyday for it man, I'm telling you, he's my savior."

"So, Lucious didn't take the information well," said Hakeem. "In his response is to pick a fight with you."

"Yeah, mostly," said Lance. "But he really misunderstood the situation, he really thought that I was gay."

"Wow," said Andre. "Because it happens so often in the gay community years ago."

"It still does unfortunately," said Lance. "But as of today, there's some technology that helps decrease the number of outbreak."

"Yeah, but if you didn't get HIV from sexual activity from another man, then how did you get it?" asked Hakeem, curiously.

"Nah man, that's the thing," said Lance. "There were no dudes! I'm a hundred percent straight. Besides, I caught it by sharing some damn needles."

"Oh, I see now," said Andre.

"I had an issue with drugs back then," said Lance. "I was sort of a junkie, I've been sharing dirty needles and that's what had happened."

"And you tried to tell Lucious about it, but he didn't want to hear it," said Hakeem. "Obviously he was hurt to have found that out and was convinced that it was a whole gay thing, so he acted out of anger...right?"

"He was beyond mad," said Lance. "I try to tell him that wasn't the case, but he started to act all erratic and started to call me all sorts of names, and I got mad and we also got into the brawl."

"That I remembered," said Andre. "I don't remember what was said but there was a lot of shouting and cursing and that was about it."

"Yep, all of that was true," said Lance.

"That is just so sad," said Hakeem. "It's almost twenty years and Lucious still doesn't know the actual truth."

"Well, I tried," said Lance. "If he doesn't want to be my friend, then that's his loss."

"I agree," said Andre.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, do you have HIV as well," Hakeem asked Sasha.

"No, but I have been taking Prep," said Sasha, in unison.

"Prep?" asked Hakeem. "What's that?"

"Prep which abbreviated for "Pre Exposure Prophylaxis, is a pill," said Lance. "That has anti HIV medicines to help lower the risk of HIV."

"But I still got to get tested regularly," said Sasha.

"There's also Pep," said Lance. "Which is Post-Exposure Prophylaxis, it is used after you think or have been exposed to HIV."

"Wow," said Hakeem. "I never knew that stuff like that existed.

"You should use it more often," said Andre, nudging Hakeem.

"Very funny," said Hakeem. "But I will take that into consideration."

"So, you are doing better now, right?" asked Andre, to Lance.

"Hell yeah, things are a lot better," said Lance. "I exercise, eat right, and take my medication every day."

"As his wife, I make sure he's on top of things," said Sasha.

"That's wassup man," said Hakeem.

"Man, Jamal's gonna be happy to hear from you again," said Andre.

"How's he holding up?" Lance asked, curiously.

"He's doing better," said Andre. "He got shot last year trying to protect, _you know who_ from a dangerous situation."

"He's always been dragging y'all in some mess," said Lance. "But at least y'all are alright."

"Yep," said Andre, as he sips his water.

"That Jamal was a good kid," said Lance. "Really sensitive though, but a very good kid."

"Hey, remember the times when we were little and he use to follow me around?" said Andre with a chuckle. "I would want to do stuff with friends in the neighborhood and he always want to tag along, and he wouldn't leave me alone."

"Yeah, you use to come to me and always complain," said Lance. "Eventually I would have Jamal help me out with some work around the house, so you could have some alone time. He was a hard worker too."

They all agreed.

"To me, Jamal was a kid who was trying to fit in, and wanted to feel loved you know," said Lance.

"I admit that there were times that I wasn't there for him," said Andre. "When I was a kid, I had my own problems to deal with."

"Who doesn't?" said Lance rhetorically. "But he would look up to you man, because you're his big brother. He didn't have anyone else to lean on."

"Despite the times that I roughhouse with him?" Andre admitted. "And sometimes treating him like a test dummy?"

"No matter what, he always told me that he loves you and you were still his favorite," said Lance.

"He really said that to you?" asked Andre.

"He really did man," said Lance.

"Wow," said Andre. "I didn't know that."

"Well you was a little kid, you were probably too young to understand," said Lance.

"Yeah probably," said Andre.

Then Lance looked as if he remembered something.

"You know what?" Lance continues. "I have something to show you."

He got up and disappeared from the room. Andre and Hakeem gave each other looks. He returns with a box and gives it to Andre.

"What's this?" he asked.

"Open it," Lance insisted.

When Andre opens the box, his eyes widens. He looked back at Lance.

"I can believe it," said Andre.

"What is it?" asked Hakeem.

"My lucky charm necklace," said Andre, amazed. "I thought I lost this forever."

He took it out of the box and hold it in his hand.

"I saved up all of my money to get this," said Andre. "I got on of the last ones that were in stock, because they hardly make them."

"Did you misplace it somewhere?" asked Hakeem.

"Well, somewhat," said Andre. "There were some bad kids in the neighborhood and one time Jamal and I ran into them in the park, and we got into a fight, which I lost. Jamal wasn't involved because I didn't let him. But one of those sons of bitches yanked it off my neck and threw it into the pond."

"Damn," said Hakeem. "That's messed up."

"Of course Jamal told me about it," said Lance. "And he was determined to get it back. And he did."

"Wait, so let me get this straight," said Andre. "He went all the way into that dirty water just to get the necklace?"

"Yep," said Lance.

"Wow," said Andre. "That was the nicest thing anyone has done for me."

"Jamal and I went to a shop and got it fixed. He try to tell you but you didn't seem to want to listen."

"I didn't believe him," said Andre. "I thought that he was making it up."

"He wasn't," said Lance. "I was gonna give it to you, but the whole this with Lucious has blindsided me so I forgot all about it."

"Man, I could've had that necklace to this day," said Andre.

"Well, It's yours now," said Lance.

"I guess I owe him now," said Andre, with a smile. "He actually cared about me that much."

Lance agreed.

"Jamal's birthday is coming up, so we're in a process of figuring out what to get for him," said Hakeem.

"And it turns out that we are also on an adventure," said Andre. "Which it involved us digging up some interesting information on him. It turns out he's more secretive than we thought."

"Wow, man," said Lance. "What did you guys find out so far."

"We found out that he was involved with a guy name Gilroy," said Hakeem.

"Jamal's gay by the way," said Andre.

"Yeah, I kind of figured that," said Lance. "How did Lucious react?"

"He was playing dressup, with mom's clothes," said Andre. "It didn't go well at all. In fact as soon as Lucious saw him, he snatched him up, took him outside and put him in a trash can."

"What?" asked Lance. "Get outta here!"

"It's not a joke, man," said Andre, with a sigh. "It really happened. It might have scared him for life."

"Anybody would've been scared for life," snapped Lance. "You don't treat your kids like that no matter what they do?"

"It's a shame that the DSS people didn't show up," said Hakeem.

"Yeah," said Lance. "Now I can see why the kid's such an introvert."

"To come and think of it, he wasn't the same after that incident," said Andre. "He would withdraw from people, and isolate himself. It seems like he kept things inside."

"Yeah, but I'm still curious of what his childhood was really like," said Hakeem. "I knew I grew up with him but I want to know more about what he was secretive about."

"I don't know what to tell you about that," admitted Lance.

Then Andre remembered something.

"Wait a minute," Andre said. "I remembered one day, he told me that one of the only places he felt kind of safe was at school."

"School huh?" Hakeem asked, taking the information in.

"Maybe some of his old teachers can tell us what it was like having Jamal as their student," Andre suddenly said.

"Wow, I haven't even thought of that," said Hakeem.

"I mean, we're already in town," said Andre. "We might as stop by and pay them a visit."

"Looks like the adventures continue," Lance said, with a grin.

"Indeed," said Hakeem, as he winked at Andre.


End file.
